SubmissionEditorial Policies
It is important for all authors publishing with HCIS to understand HCIS’s definition of authorship in addition to learning about citation, data reporting, and how to follow the ethical guidelines required in scientific publishing.
Authors wishing to publish their papers in HCIS journals must abide to the following:
Authors should accurately present their research findings and include an objective discussion of the significance of their findings.
All and only those who qualify for authorship should be included as authors, and their contribution given in the manuscript.
Any facts that might be perceived as a possible conflict of interest of the author(s) must be disclosed in the paper prior to submission.
Data and methods used in the research need to be presented in sufficient detail in the paper so that other researchers can replicate the work. Raw data must be made publicly available unless there is a compelling reason otherwise (e.g., patient confidentiality).
Simultaneous submission of manuscripts to more than one journal is not permitted.
Original research results must be novel and not previously published, including being previously published in another language.
For any content previously published (including quotations, figures or tables), any necessary permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder.
Errors and inaccuracies found after publication must be promptly communicated to the Editorial Office.
This list is not exhaustive, and authors should be aware of local regulations and accepted norms within academic publishing.
HCIS follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines which state that in order to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, authors must satisfy the following:
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
Final approval of the version to be published; AND
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Those who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgments. More detailed guidance on authorship is given by the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Any change to the author list during the editorial process or after publication should be approved by all authors, including any who have been removed. The corresponding author should act as a point of contact between the editor and the other authors and should keep coauthors informed and involve them in major decisions about the publication. We reserve the right to request evidence of authorship, and changes to authorship after acceptance will be made at the discretion of HCIS.
Editors of HCIS journals are permitted to submit to journals they edit, however, they will not be involved in the editorial process and are not permitted to make final decisions on their own work or those of close colleagues.
Plagiarism is not acceptable in HCIS journals. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving credit to the original source.
Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be between quotation marks and the original source must be cited. If a study's design or the manuscript's structure or language has been inspired by previous studies, these studies must be explicitly cited.
If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we may publish a Correction or retract the paper. HCIS Editors use the industry standard software Ithenticate to check for text duplication.
Image files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image. Irregular manipulation includes 1) introduction, enhancement, moving, or removing features from the original image, 2) grouping of images that should obviously be presented separately (e.g., from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels), or 3) modifying the contrast, brightness or color balance to obscure, eliminate or enhance some information.
If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed during the peer review process, we may reject the manuscript. If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we may correct or retract the paper.
Data presented must be original and not inappropriately selected, manipulated, enhanced, or fabricated. This includes 1) exclusion of data points to enhance significance of conclusions, 2) fabrication of data, 3) selection of results that support a particular conclusion at the expense of contradictory data, 4) deliberate selection of analysis tools or methods to support a particular conclusion (including p-hacking). We strongly recommend preregistration of methods and analysis.
HCIS journals endorse the ARRIVE guidelines (https://arriveguidelines.org/arrive-guidelines) for reporting experiments using live animals. Authors and reviewers can use the ARRIVE guidelines as a checklist, which can be found at https://arriveguidelines.org/resources/author-checklists.
Manuscripts containing original research on animal subjects must have been approved by an ethical review committee. The project identification code, date of approval and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board must be cited in the Methods Section.
For research involving animals, any potentially derived benefits must be significant in relation to harm suffered by participating animals. Authors should particularly ensure that their research complies with the commonly accepted '3Rs':
Replacement of animals by alternatives wherever possible;
Reduction in number of animals used;
Refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize the harm to animals.
Research Involving Cell Lines
Methods sections for submissions reporting on research with cell lines should state the origin of any cell lines. For established cell lines, the provenance should be stated and references must also be given to either a published paper or to a commercial source. If previously unpublished de novo cell lines were used, including those gifted from another laboratory, details of institutional review board or ethics committee approval must be given, and confirmation of written informed consent must be provided if the line is of human origin.
Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild) including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. We recommend that authors comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
For each submitted manuscript supporting genetic information and origin must be provided. For research manuscripts involving rare and non-model plants (other than, e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, Oriza sativa, or many other typical model plants), voucher specimens must be deposited in an accessible herbarium or museum. Vouchers may be requested for review by future investigators to verify the identity of the material used in the study (especially if taxonomic rearrangements occur in the future). They should include details of the populations sampled on the site of collection (GPS coordinates), date of collection, and document the part(s) used in the study where appropriate. For rare, threatened or endangered species this can be waived but it is necessary for the author to describe this in the cover letter.
Authors should ensure that where material is taken from other sources (including their own published writing), the source is clearly cited and that where appropriate permission is obtained.
Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation of their own work.
Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
Authors should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.
Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.
You should always cite any sources used in your journal article. Citation is required in several instances. Follow these guidelines.
Direct quotation: Place verbatim text from another source in quotation marks. Indent text for longer quotes. Include a citation to the original source.
Paraphrase or summary: Include a citation when restating or summarizing information from another source, including ideas, processes, arguments, or conclusions.
Data, research results, information, graphics, or tables: Cite the original source when referring to, adapting, or reusing any information from another source.
Note that the same rules apply to your own previously published work. When in doubt, cite.
In accordance with COPE guidelines, we expect that “original wording taken directly from publications by other researchers should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate citations”. This condition also applies to an author’s own work. COPE have produced a discussion document on citation manipulation(https://publicationethics.org/files/COPE_DD_A4_Citation_Manipulation_Jul19_SCREEN_AW2.pdf) with recommendations for best practice.
HCIS is committed to supporting open scientific exchange and enabling our authors to achieve best practices in sharing and archiving research data. We encourage all authors of articles published in HCIS journals to share their research data. Data sharing policies concern the minimal dataset that supports the central findings of a published study. Generated data should be publicly available and cited in accordance with journal guidelines.
Where ethical, legal or privacy issues are present, data should not be shared. The authors should make any limitations clear in the Data Availability Statement upon submission. Authors should ensure that data shared are in accordance with consent provided by participants on the use of confidential data.
Data Availability Statements provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study.
Below are suggested Data Availability Statements:
Data available in a publicly accessible repository: The data presented in this study are openly available in [repository name e.g., FigShare] at [doi], reference number [reference number].
Data available in a publicly accessible repository that does not issue DOIs: Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here: [link/accession number].
Data available on request due to restrictions eg privacy or ethical: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to [insert reason here].
3rd Party Data: Restrictions apply to the availability of these data. Data was obtained from [third party] and are available [from the authors/at URL] with the permission of [third party].
Data sharing not applicable: No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.
Ensure authors are showing the full picture by avoiding fabrication, falsification, and image manipulation during your research and when authors are writing or revising your article. Avoid:
Fabrication: Inventing data or results.
Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results
Image manipulation: Excessive or inappropriate adjustment of an image that alters the scientific meaning of the image.
